Szopka Festival and Polonia w Connecticut Exhibit
Date2000
MediumPositive color film slides
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.1110.1-.2
DescriptionSlide photographs of Polish szopki.
(.1) Szopka at the Polish National Home in Hartford.
(.2) A szopka made by Stephan Midura of Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1984, when he was 70 years old. The szopka was loaned to the "Polonia w Connecticut: Polish American Traditional Arts in Connecticut" exhibition by the Polish Cultural Club of Greater Hartford and now in the collection of Elms College.
NotesSubject Note: In a continuation of the living tradition of creating nativity scenes from humble and re-used materials, the Polish Cultural Club of Greater Hartford has sponsored the szopka festival, an annual November contest and festival held for many years (until 2020) at the Polish National Home in Hartford. Children from several Greater Hartford schools create their versions of the Szopka Krakowska, designing elaborate mangers to mimic the domes, towers, balconies, and roofs of local buildings in Krakow. They use recycled materials such as juice bottles, aluminum foil, cardboard boxes, and toy figures. The tradition of making elaborate manger scenes depicting the birth of Jesus at Christmas draws from the centuries-old ancient practice of staging nativity plays in village crèches carrying a szopka as a scene or small stage. The word szopka means shed, and refers to the humble stable where Jesus was born. The Szopka Festival sponsored by the Polish Cultural Club of Greater Hartford has been held at the Polish National Home every Thanksgiving weekend for several decades.(.1) Szopka at the Polish National Home in Hartford.
(.2) A szopka made by Stephan Midura of Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1984, when he was 70 years old. The szopka was loaned to the "Polonia w Connecticut: Polish American Traditional Arts in Connecticut" exhibition by the Polish Cultural Club of Greater Hartford and now in the collection of Elms College.
Subject Note: The Polish Cultural Club of Greater Hartford “was established in 1976 to preserve and promote the history, culture, and customs of Poland with fellow Americans." An active organization that has held many meetings at the Polish National Home on Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford, the Club sponsors lectures, seasonal celebrations such as Wigilia at Christmas time, the annual szopka festival, and gives scholarships and support to Scouts groups. The Club collaborates with the Polish Foundation and the CCSU Polish Studies Department and Library in New Britain.
Subject Note: "Polonia w Connecticut: Polish American Traditional Arts in Connecticut," an exhibition describing the arts and customs of this large community in Connecticut, was developed by CCHAP in collaboration with members of the Polish community, and was displayed in the gallery of the Institute for Community Research (ICR) from December 7, 2000 to May 2001. The project aimed to bring forward the enduring traditions of Polish American communities in Connecticut by conducting fieldwork in these communities, by collecting art works which express community traditions which still are practiced, by presenting an exhibition and related programming to the public and for schoolchildren, and by developing closer ties with the Polish community as ICR was situated in the heart of Hartford’s historic Polish neighborhood. Project partners included the Polish National Home, Ss. Cyril and Methodius Church and School, the Polish Cultural Club of Greater Hartford, the Polish Studies Department at Central Connecticut State University, and a number of community-based local Polish artists and collectors. Marek Czarnecki, an accomplished Byzantine iconographer and scholar from the Bristol Polish community, served as co-curator and gave a gallery talk on March 3, 2001. The project produced a catalogue of exhibit texts and information in both English and Polish. At the exhibit opening, performances were given by the Gwiazdeczki Dancers, a longstanding folk dance group from Saints Cyril and Methodius School and Parish, Hartford, and Wladyslaw Furtak, a singer, storyteller and woodcarver from the Gorale region of Poland who resides in Ansonia. Project funders included the Edward T. and Ann C. Roberts Foundation, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Polish Studies Dept. of CCSU.
The exhibit was timed to coincide with the annual "szopka contest" in late November when students from schools in New Britain and Hartford would create szopki - traditional Polish nativity scenes - then bring them to Hartford's Polish National Home on Charter Oak Avenue where a panel of judges awards prizes for excellence and creativity during the annual szopka festival. Some of these szopki were included in the CCHAP exhibit. Traditional art forms such as papercutting (wycinanki), painted eggs (pisanki), icons, embroidery, harvest ornaments, Christmas ornaments, and folk costumes all made by Connecticut Poles were featured, and the exhibit also included handmade altars and figures made for devotional use in people's homes, a common Polish practice. The exhibit demonstrated the beauty, usefulness, and continuation of traditional arts specific to the large Polish-American community in Connecticut, while also noting the ways traditions become altered in a new world setting.
Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this community and these events.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
2000-2001 December-March
2001 May 7
Polish Cultural Club of Greater Hartford
2000 August
2000 November